DESPITE the most recent findings that saw China-made vaccines as hardly effective against COVID-19 infections, there seems to be no more stopping the government from buying it.
In a statement, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque defended the China-made COVID-19 vaccines and urged the public to get inoculated, noting that the shots provide protection against severe infection and deaths.
“Assuming it’s correct that it only has a 50 percent efficacy rate, doctors have repeatedly explained that it is still a guarantee against serious illness or even death because of Covid-19. And that’s why it is still okay for protection,” Roque said.
His statement came following the admission of Gao Fu, director of China Centers for Disease Control, who said that vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates” and that Beijing is considering mixing shots to boost it.
“We will solve the issue that current vaccines don’t have very high protection rates,” Gao was quoted as saying at a conference in China.
Science Secretary Fortunato de la Pena, for his part, said the country’s vaccine expert panel will look into the matter, but declined to elaborate further.
The Philippine government has already secured 25 million doses of the China-made vaccines developed, manufactured and sold by Sinovac-Biotech. Of this figure, 2.5 million doses have already been delivered to the country.
The China-made doses have already been administered to health care workers, senior citizens, and persons with underlying medical conditions.
To date, the government has so far managed to vaccinate one million individuals, representing 0.06 percent of the country’s population of about 110 million.